The present Bachelor thesis deals with the portrayals of evil in the two novels Dvärgen (The Dwarf) and Bödeln (The Hangman), both written by Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist and published in the first half of the twentieth century. The theoretical starting point of the thesis is based on a text centered analysis in which I will assume that the fictional characters can be treated as if they were real. In two separate analyses of how evil is portrayed and what functions it can fill, I illuminate a number of examples of how evil is expressed in the narratives. I also show that evil can be portrayed as something that creates meaning within the framework of the literary texts.

This thesis is to present identified modifications in the model opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, and to put these in perspective of its trajectory from its origins in the novel Tracks in the Snowy Forest, to its final form as the studied model opera from 1970. A semantical analysis was employed in the study of the book and the script, whereas semiotics served as a tool in identifying the existence and use of traditional elements from the theatrical form of jingju in the model opera. The contextualized analysis of the encountered alterations and their employment in relation to their history and contemporary circumstances shed a light over the importance of the identified elements’ role in using the model opera as a tool for clarifying differences between good and evil as established by the contemporary political elite. Going beyond its entertaining purpose and in accordance with the established policies regarding the arts set by the Communist Party, director Jiang Qing created a medley of Chinese and Western instruments, reformed jingju elements and rephrased lines. A medley conveying the indirect message of the right way to follow, in the disguise of a communist hero besieging Tiger Mountain in the name of revolution.

4.

Berntsson, Peter

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology, Old and New Testament Exegesis, New Testament Exegesis.

Dudeism was inspired by a film released in 1998 named The Big Lebowski, which recounts the adventures of a character called the Dude, the namesake of the religion. The Dude is an example of the (mostly) ideal practitioner of Dudeism, which Dudeists mean has existed throughout the ages, expressed differently by different systems of belief and behaviour while retaining an essential Dudeistic spirit.

A superficial overlook of this system of belief and behaviour finds many similarities to early Taoism, a parallel which Dudeism itself encourages, particularly in regards to the Tao Te Ching. It is also clear that many of Dudeism’s central concepts are inspired or borrowed from said work.

This essay explores the relationship between Dudeism and Taoism through comparison, focusing on the teachings of Tao Te Ching in relation to Dudeist thought and practice. It seeks to establish Dudeism’s religious history as a religion firmly rooted in both a modern motion picture and ancient Eastern thought. The essay concludes that Dudeism has adapted the teachings of the Tao Te Ching for a modern, Western audience through the language and imagery of The Big Lebowski, adding its own twists to ancient concepts.

Al-Wasatiyya - The Middle Path as theological program in Southern European (Bosnian) and Southeast Asian (Malaysian) contexts.

This study examines the neglected phenomenon of al-wasitiyyah and how it relates to an Islamic theological context. This study focuses on the religious aspect of al-wasatiyyah, specifically in beliefs, actions, rituals and ethics perspective, social and interpersonal relationships. The main purpose of this study is to describe, clarify and critically examine the phenomenon of al-wasatiyya as a theological program, and practices in Europe, namely in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Southeast Asia, Malaysia.

The material for the investigation consists of some relevant literature, scientific articles, and open-ended interviews with prominent researchers in al-wasatiyya from the chosen countries of research. The methodology used in the study is a qualitative textual analysis of the open individual interviews.

The analysis and its results provide us with specific answers to the following question: how the concept of al-wasatiyya can be understood in an Islamic theological context, and then displays its scale, interpretations and practices. There are similarities as well as differences between the Southern European and Southeast Asian perspectives on the field of al-wasatiyya. Lastly, the critical objections against al-wasatiyya are examined, and ultimately the results of the study are compared to previous research on the field.

The results show that the neglected phenomenon of al-wasatiyya returned back to the Islamic discourse in the early 2000s, especially after the tragic events of 9/11 in the US. Thus, the result of the study indicates that al-wasatiyya occurs as a reaction to extremism and radicalism in Islam. Finally, the results of the study demonstrate that the concept of al-wasatiyya, except for religious purposes, can be used as well in other areas and socio-political systems in the contemporary world.

This is a content analysis of the Chinese news paper People’s Daily (Renmin Ribao 人民日报). It examines articles published by the People’s Daily reporting about Sweden in migration contexts between January 1980 and September 2015. The purpose of the project is to investigate changes over time when it comes to agenda-setting, together with which other countries Sweden is mentioned and framing used in the articles. The topics of the articles are listed and a deductive frame analysis is carried out, showing clear signs of changes over time. The data shows that there has been a shift from reporting on international disputes to reporting on Europe’s migration issues. From investigating with which other countries Sweden is mentioned, a conclusion can be drawn that Sweden is portrayed as a country that collaborates with the other European countries to a great extent. The data also shows that there is a low usage of the conflict frame, but a high usage the responsibility- and ­morality frames in the People’s Daily which is evidence of letting the ideology of the authors shine through. The People’s Daily shows signs of political correctness by shifting from a high usage of episodic framing to thematic framing.

Sailor's sea songs and shanties are still popular, even though the ships where they were sung are long gone. Instead these songs have been relocated into a corpus of folk-songs. This study aims to show how song-books focused on sea songs and shanties portray the traditional aspects of these song, with emphasis on musical and textual aspects. Those aspects are largely undescribed vis-á-vis the history and function behind the songs. To demonstrate this a number of 20th century song-books have been studied and put in relation to literature regarding sea songs and shanties. This study shows that sailor's songs in song-books portrays a different image than their traditional counterpart. That is due to what the authors of the song-books include and what they leave out. This is both about the choice of the song as well as what is described about them.

Interdisciplinarity is a common goal within specialized interdisciplinary organizations as well as within the academic world as a whole. Interdisciplinary research is connected with values such as a more market oriented approach, new ways of using theories and methods and a more cost efficient use of expensive research equipment. But few studies actually measure the development of organized interdisciplinary research over time.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential effects of organizational changes in research institu- tions whose purpose is to promote interdisciplinary research collaborations..

Using a longitudinal case study this essay measures the attempts of a Norwegian music therapy research organisation to actively induce interdisciplinary research over a period of eight years. An important part of the study is also to try common quantitative operationalizations of different types of interdisciplinarity with in a small case study. Bibliometric methods are used to visualize relations between researchers.

Important results include findings of increased interdisciplinary activity within the new organisation thus proving the possibility to create interdisciplinary conditions thru active organisational changes. The essay also show that operationalizations used in quantitative studies may need to be adapted to specific conditions in order to effectively measure interdisciplinary relations between researchers. As with all case studies the results of this essay needs to be tested and verified in further studies.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether or not there has been a change in the way DN Debatt has been depicting muslims. This study process the time between 11 September 2000 and 11 September 2002. To reach my result I am using a content analysis, this because I found it the most useful to my material. The result I got with this thesis was that it wasn’t that big of a difference in the picture that the writers wanted to show. The biggest difference was the linguistic, the words used in the articles changed from quite positive to become rather negative. For example before 11 September 2001 the word terrorism was not to be seen in a article about Muslims, but after the same date every article used in this study has the word terrorist in some way. In my thesis I used a hypothesis, the hypothesis was that the reporting about Muslims was going to be radically changed and become hostile towards Muslims. This was not the case and my hypothesis was in one way contradicted.

This thesis examines Chinese wind divination in the period of Song Renzong Reign (1022-1063) from two different paths: one is by interpreting the Wind Orientation Divination method based on my text analysis of Wujing Zongyao武经总要; the other path is by elaborating Wind Sensing Divination method in Qiusheng Fu with its links to Meihua Yishu梅花易数 and I Ching. Through these two paths, I try to build an understanding of Chinese wind divination in Song Renzong Reign.

The whole purpose of this essay is to see how the opportunities to demand accountability been affected by changes in the OSL. This is based on three questions. The first question is: How changes affect the OSL opportunities for accountability? The second question: to what extent, technical progress been a driving force for changes in the OSL and in what way? The third and final question is: What changes have sparked debate?

The essay initiate with a report that konstitutionsutskottet compiled, the report was called Översyn av ändringar i offentlighets- och sekretesslagstiftningen 1995-2012. In this report konstitutionsutskottet compiles the changes implemented since the OSL entered into legal force in 2009. 53 of these changes resulted in actual changes in the law, such as new paragraphs or additions to the regulations. I examined the respective committee report for these 53 amendments thereto, and have the committee reports constituted the main source material for the essay. The methodology used for the survey of the committee reports is the document analysis.

The results of the survey are that the strengthened secrecy to protect data relating to individuals becomes the expense of opportunities for accountability. In a fairly large extent, technological developments have meant that the need to revise and extend the protection for individuals and thereby also limit the opportunity for accountability. Technological developments have also been pushing for changes to the OSL .

Few of these amendments leads to debate in terms of OSL, therefore, does not question the notches of OSL in especially large extent when the real restriction is actually happening. Konstitutionsutskottets report, in the beginning of the essay, however, shows a clear concern with regard to the entirety of the amendments.

27.

Gräsberg Franzén, Josefine

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology.

The objective of this thesis is to study how the use of movies can enrich the educational platform. Movies: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) have been analyzed using a hermeneutic method and postcolonial theory to identify stereotypes and religious and mythologicial motives. This thesis shows that the presentation of religiosity in both movies can be useful in the classroom setting although the presence of stereotypes need to be further discussed with the students. There are plenty of ways to work with both movies in the classroom setting though the teacher has a great responsibility to make it work.

This paper discuses three different freakshow-attractions at the amusement park Gröna Lund in Stockholm during the 20th century; two tribes from the African continent, the exhibit of people with dwarfism and all female striptease. These attractions have been examined with international and intersectional perspective aswell as their effect on the possible heritage status of the amusement park Gröna Lund and their part in creating a so-called dissonant heritage. The thesis does not examine individual freaks or the amusement often refereed to as burlesque that also was an important part of the amusement park Gröna Lund.

By studying the amusement park Gröna Lund’s company archive at the Centre for business history in Stockholm I found the main source material for this thesis. This material consisted of pictures, commercial flyers given out at exhibitions, advertising banners and articles from various Swedish newspapers. The material has then been exposed to both textual and image analysis.

The result is that the human attractions at Gröna Lund can, and should, be seen as a part of an international freakshow market - although influenced by social and political trends and institutions. I also argue that the amusement park, and the human attractions are a part of a dissonant heritage, a more intersectional Swedish heritage. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

This paper investigates Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 from the perspective of the hermeneutical implications of their historical context appropriated into a modern contextual understanding and possible application. To do this, four prominent historical theories (relating the ban to procreation, idolatry, against nature/the order of creation, and Canaanite practices) of the origin of the verses, and the ban therein, are chosen to be analysed. The analysis will be based on a theoretical framework which is modelled to present a theory of how historical knowledge and its derived hermeneutical implications enables a dynamically equivalent cultural appropriation. The investigation poses two questions – (1) what are the hermeneutical implications, and (2) what might a dynamically equivalent cultural appropriation into a modern context look like? In answering these question, it is found that when understanding the historical context as giving clues to the cultural world of the author and first reader(s), the four theories produce different results, but in none of them is it said to be either impossible or always possible to apply the ban. Further, even the group of people that are concerned by the ban differs. There is also a note of warning given, as these theories and others on the matter are very hard, if not impossible, to choose between, and therefore one has to motivate quite well why one selects one over the other in creating an interpretation and appropriation, since such a choice might, but should not, be more based on preference than on facts. Questions are in this paper sometimes posed but not answered, which runs in line with the overarching goal to rather draw some lines of interpretation than to hold an interpretation to be certain, while still exemplifying a transparent and theoretically well founded way to appropriate these verses.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a literature study regarding how the British media represents Islam and Muslims. On the basis of a selection of material that consists of relevant literature regarding the subject, my aim is to outline how Islam and Muslims are represented according to this literature, and what changes in time have taken place. The results will also be interpreted through a mediatization theory as well as a representation theory.

A literature study means that the material is secondary, in this case previous quantitative studies. All studies chosen have examined the British media representation on Islam during specific years, and presented results that are necessary for me to conduct my study.

The result of the study shows that British media represents Islam in an unfavourable and discriminating way during the years that were examined in the studies, and that occurrences related to Islam have changed in the media over time. Discourses used in relation to Islam have changed and the framework that surrounds Islam as a subject becomes narrower. Associations between Islam and more extreme Islamic movements become more obvious. The articulation that British Muslims are a threat to the British society is also growing over time. Framing the results through Stig Hjarvards theories on mediatization show that British news media have a consistently narrow framework on the topic of Islam and Muslims in everyday news, and that religious institutions have difficulties presenting their different views since those, according to the news media, don’t fit in. The theories on representation show that British news medias association between Islam and negative subjects can help to create a consistent negative approach to the subject.

This bachelor thesis offers a rhetorical analysis of the album Maranatha by Swedish Black Metal artist Funeral Mist. Its main focus is on the intertextuality between the song "Blessed Curse" and the biblical book Deuteronomy, especially Deut 28 from which it has sampled a large portion of text. In the analysis I uncover the similarities and differences between the two texts in order to explain how the biblical fragments constitute new meanings when rearranged and taken out of their original context. The analysis concludes with relating the material to its new context i.e. the album Maranatha and the Black Metal scene by explaining other intertexts and references to the Bible and discussing which genre is best suited to describe the album as a whole. The results of the study show that the biblical quotations in the lyrics convey radically different messages and meanings compared to their original content in Deut 28. This in turn acknowledge how dependent linguistic symbols are on their context. I finish off my thesis with a few reflections on the moral and ethical implications of this use of biblical material concerning the anti-christian agenda supported by members of the Black Metal scene and specifically how Daniel Rostén of Funeral Mist view his own work and agenda.

The traditional Christian doctrines of atonement have been widely critized for expressing a violent image of God, and for having serious misogynist consequenses. In this thesis I start by presenting some feminist critics of the objective, subjective and classical view, but my main objective is to discuss the question of feminism and soteriology through the lens of Selma Lagerlöf’s narrative Kejsarn av Portugallien (The Emperor of Portugallia). Selma Lagerlöf’s stories have been used before in theological contexts, mainly through Margareta Brandby-Cöster who detects lutheran undercurrents in Lagerlöfs writings, which I also present in this thesis. Kejsarn av Portugallien deals with the redemption between a father and a daughter, and has some parallels with the subjective and the classical view of atonement, but doesn’t fully align with any of the doctrines. I have found that there are some important themes and imagery in Kejsarn av Portugallien that can be used in a feminist discussion about soteriology. It opens up for a debate on sin, the issues with a male saviour, suffering, images of God and performativity.

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology. Uppsala University, The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (SCASSS).

To cope with difficult stress isn’t always easy and a lot of studies have been made to gain more information about how individuals develop their coping strategies under extreme stress. During the Holocaust, Jewish people found themselves in a number of different situations: extermination camps, labor and concentration camps, physical hiding in the sewers or forests. The aim of this paper is to examine the experiences and coping strategies of two Holocaust survivors. Through their biographies they have shared their experiences during the concentration camps. The research questions in this study are: How do the two individuals develop their coping during their stay in a concentration camp and to what extent can religion be included in the coping process? Three underlying questions are: What was significant for them during their experiences? What can be seen as theirs stressors? and What kind of coping strategies are used? To answer these questions a qualitative research method called template analysis style has been used. The main theory is Pargament’s (1997) coping theory. The conclusion of my study was that both individuals are trying to normalize life in the concentration camps with the help of daily routines because they felt that surviving in concentration camp is a matter of adaptation. Individuals had both mental and physical stressors. The use of daily routines and boundary setting served as coping strategies for both individuals. A strategy that both of the individuals used was to think about the future and prepare for the life after the concentration camp. The results showed that religion wasn’t a part of the coping process for these two individuals and that several different coping strategies were used.

Purpose- The aim of this master’s thesis is to analyse the dichotomy between west and east and how this is seen in the following two libraries; Library of Congress (LC) and Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). I want to analyze if the portrait of east, as slow and hostile, and of west, as welcoming and forward, and how this, if at all, is actually seen in LC and BA. The presence and use of patriotism and nationalism in libraries is also examined. I asked myself the following questions: 1) How do LC and BA present themselves on their websites and how does this correspond to the dichotomy?, 2) How do LC and BA relate to patriotism on their websites?, and 3) Can one see what, if anything, LC and BA say about each other and how does this correspond to the dichotomy? These are questions that libraries world-wide might gain from to ponder, how and why, a western norm is almost always seen as superior to an eastern option.

Method- The approach was norm critical analysis of LC and BA’s websites. The method used was comparative text and image studies combined with netnography. Benedict Andersons and Jürgen Habermas’ theories about patriotism and nationalism was used, as well as Edward Saids Orient perspective. Andersons’ idea of an imagined community was also central.

Key Findings- The analysis shows that the dichotomy is actually the other way round, BA are the modern and welcoming ones, while LC are more traditional by way of expressing themselves. The dichotomy is also in some cases even very misleading of how the East is interpreted by the West. The conclusion is three major findings, 1) BA want to create and share knowledge both with each other and with the world as a whole, whilst LC is more about gathering knowledge and keeping this in the library for the sake of the United States welfare, 2) LC speak of themsleves as modern and of BA as ancient just as the dichotomy often display the two of them, but this is not a correct statement; BA has, for instance, modern western superheroes displayed on their website for children, while LC, on the other hand, has heroes such as the late American president Abraham Lincoln and American veterans on display for children (in other words, mostly an American perspective that one might find difficult to relate to if being a non-american citizen, while BA is more global with well-known cartoon figures), and lastly, 3) LC displays patriotism through stories of war by having a prominent section dedicated to American veterans on their website, while BA speaks more of a patriotism through a proud cultural heritage.

Originality/value- This kind of study had not been done before in LIS research.

Paper type- This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science (LIS) in Archive, Library and Museums studies

This thesis presents a cross-sectional study of psychological meaning making processes involving religious beliefs and the construction of a sense of purpose in life. Previous research has studied the connection between religiosity and purpose in life, but has failed to adequately represent the multidimensionality of meaning and religion, resulting in a lack of understanding of the psychological processes involved in the construction of a sense of purpose in life.

The purpose of this study was to research the connection between specific religious beliefs and a sense of purpose in life in individuals aged 25-40, by testing one hypothesis: There is a significant, positive correlation between the strength of religious belief and purpose in life, and answering two research questions: 1. What specific religious beliefs show a significant correlation to purpose in life?, and 2. How are religious beliefs used in a meaning system for the construction of purpose in life? The study employed a two-phase, mixed methods sequential exploratory design, and a meaning system theory framework, complemented by additional theoretical perspectives in phase 2. The weighting of the data was on the first, qualitative phase of the study and the data were mixed in the final, joint analysis of both types of data.

Phase 1 consisted of a survey, measuring the strength of religious beliefs (measured by the BVS scale) and sense of purpose in life (measured by the LAP-R and one item of the WHOQOL-BRIEF). The survey was completed by 40 respondents who self-identified as Christian and were members of various Christian congregations in the city of Stockholm and surrounding areas.

The results of phase 1 of the study firstly showed a significant, moderate, positive correlation between the strength of religious belief and purpose in life, confirming the hypothesis. The results also showed that purpose in life was positively and significantly correlated to a belief that God is an all pervading presence (tau = 0.35, p<0.05), belief in forces for evil in the universe (tau = 0.40, p<0.01), belief that human physical contact can be a spiritual experience (tau = 0.27, p<0.05), belief in life after death (tau = 0.31, p<0.05), belief that one's life has been planned out (tau = 0.33, p<0.05), belief that there is a heaven (tau = 0.30, p<0,05), belief that the human spirit is immortal (tau = 0.30, p<0.05), and belief that there is a God (tau = 0.32, p<0.05).

Phase 2 consisted of interviews with 9 of the survey respondents, yielding qualitative data that were analysed through an interpretative framework based on two hermeneutic theories. The qualitative analysis showed that religious beliefs are used to construct purpose in a meaning making process consisting primarily of three elements in a meaning system. Beliefs regarding what is ultimately good (ultimate concerns) and beliefs regarding the purpose and role of humanity (overall purpose) provides a foundation for the construction of purpose in life. The individual constructs purpose by locating himself/herself (self-definition) in relation to ultimate concerns and overall purpose. The results of phase 2 also showed that both the content and conviction of religious beliefs influence their use in the construction of purpose in life, further explicating the results of phase 1.

The joint analysis of the two phases showed that the results from phase 2 supported the results from phase 1, both regarding the beliefs involved in the construction of purpose in life and the importance of both content and conviction in meaning making processes.

Suggestions for further research include additional research on the connections between the various elements of a meaning system, research on the connection between religious beliefs, purpose and the development of self-definition, as well as further theoretical developments of meaning system theory, and harmonisation of meaning system theory with other, complementary theoretical perspectives.

This study aims to gain an understanding on how researchers leave their mark on archaeological records and to discuss what this have meant for the production of archaeological knowledge. This was done by studying archival records from two archaeological excavations of boat graves in Valsgärde, which was held in 1936 and 1950. Starting with the relation between creator/researcher and records made the idea was to contribute with a study of the relationship between records and creator. The theories being used for analyzing this was intersectionality combined with Donna Haraways situated knowledges, where created interacting categories in the material was analyzed in relation to each researcher. Both researchers material where further discussed whis this in mind. The main method used was qualitative content analysis, wich were also combined with a quantitative method of the number of records created with the same content. Through these methods interacting categoriers was found in the archaeological documentation. The created interacting categories in one material consisted of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of single finds and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. Further three interacting categories of documentation after excavation, of weapons and single finds was found in the same material. In comparision, the other records consisted of interacting categories of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of the contex of the findings and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. This showed how the reseachers in the studied records have left their marks on the archaeological documentation of each boat grave. The researches had desicive impact on the produced knowledge that was based on their findings, since the records that were created were created were influenced by each researcher. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Abstract According to the human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Uyghurs are often discriminated against in Chinese media and depicted in a bad light. This thesis analyzes how the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China, are portrayed in the media by examining the contexts in which they are mentioned in the state-run newspaper People’s Daily. The thesis focused on the months surrounding the Kunming massacre in 2014 and made a comparison before and after the massacre occurred. The results show that the Chinese government, especially in times of turmoil, stresses the importance of national unity and Uyghurs are mentioned more frequently. In contrast to the claims of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Uyghurs are rarely depicted as criminals or in a negative manner. This is most likely due to the Chinese government’s desire to maintain a harmonious society and uphold national security.

50.

Linnros, David

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Department of ALM.

In this master's thesis classification is put into the bigger context of other human capacities of knowledge and action such as perception, language and categorization. By studying and analyzing recent research on categorization in psychology, anthropology and cognitive science and interpreting it through the philosophy of Henri Bergson the thesis demonstrates how knowledge and action are two sides of the same coin and how this insight is a must for a proper understanding of classification. The analysis focuses primarily on the family resemblance categorization theory of Eleanor Rosch, the ethnobiological universal classication theory of Brent Berlin and Scott Atran, the presentation of evolutionary cognitive science by Peter Gärdenfors and the philosophical discussion on classification by Rebecca Bryant. The thesis removes classification from its assumed Aristotelian origin and connects it with psychological categorization and by extension all human (and nonhuman) acts of differentiation. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.